The present invention relates to a process for hingedly connecting first and second pieces of furniture.
More particularly, the present invention is directed to such a process employing a hinge unit of the type including a hinge arm having attached thereto a mounting plate, a cup-shaped dowel, and a pair of toggle joints connecting the hinge arm and the cup-shaped dowel to form a quadrangular hinge linkage.
In the modern furniture industry, hinges of the above type are frequently used, particularly in the kitchen furniture industry, and particularly to hingedly connect a door to a side wall of an article of furniture.
Such hinges make it possible for the doors to rest on the front sides of the side walls of a kitchen cabinet, whereby the doors lift away from the front sides of the cabinet during swiveling of the hinges to open the door. Most hinges of this type allow adjustment of the position of the door with respect to the side wall of the cabinet after assembly. Specifically, such hinges normally allow an adjustment with relation to the direction of the depth of the cabinet and of the door gap, whereby production tolerances can be equalized.
According to the prior art, the assembly of such hinges to the article of furniture is carried out in a manner such that a base plate of the hinge is connected to the side wall of the piece of furniture, and the cup-shaped dowel, onto which the hinge arm proper is fitted by means of the toggle joints, is directly inserted into a corresponding dowel hole in the door. The hinge arm, attached to the door, is then mounted on the base plate which is attached to the side wall.
This known assembly process, however, has certain inherent disadvantages. Firstly, the intermediate alignment of the door is entirely problematical, since the hinge arm and the toggle joint are spaced from the door. Accordingly, the door and the portion of the hinge attached thereto provides a bulky assembly which is difficult to store. Further, the protruding hinge parts, normally formed of metal, may scratch the finish of the door.
Further, during assembly of the door having a substantial portion of the hinge unit mounted thereon to the base plate which is mounted on the side wall, such assembly operation is made more difficult due to the fact that the door is made more heavy due to the weight of substantially all of the hinge unit.